The Effect of Dietary Elements on Fly Movement and Behavior

People consume different types of diets which are known to have a variety of effects on people’s health and daily functions. Among those eating lifestyles, people commonly consume increased sugar or salt (fast foods). On the other hand, latest scientific research has shown that caloric restriction enhances quality of health and has anti-aging properties. We sought to find out the effects of high sugar, high salt, or caloric restriction on crucial human functions such as locomotion, morphology, and behavioral patterns. We decided to use fruit flies (Drosophila melanogaster) as our model organism because they are cheap and excellent organisms for understanding molecular mechanisms of human diseases caused by these diets. We discovered that high salt decreased fly survival while all diets decreased the response to stressors like heat and CR ultimately improved locomotion and social behavior.